Mercer Quality of Living Survey

The Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranks 231 cities from Vienna to Baghdad on quality of life.^[1] Countries with cities commonly ranked in the top 50 include Austria, Switzerland, New Zealand, Germany, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Australia, Sweden and the United States.^[2] Vienna has been ranked first for eight consecutive years.

The quality of living survey is conducted to help governments and major companies place employees on international assignments. The survey also identifies those cities with the highest personal safety ranking based upon internal stability, crime, effectiveness of law enforcement and relationships with other countries. In this case, Luxembourg is top, followed by Bern, Helsinki and Zürich, all equally placed at number 2.

Scoring

The 231 cities are evaluated on 39 factors including political, economic, environmental, personal safety, health, education, transportation and other public service factors. In 2010, cities were compared to New York City which was given a base score of 100.

Vienna, Austria

Zürich, Switzerland

Auckland, New Zealand

Munich, Germany

Vancouver, Canada

2018 rank[3]	2016 rank	2015 rank	2014 rank	2012 rank	2010 rank	City	Country	Index 2010
1	1	1	1	1	1	Vienna	Austria	108.6
2	2	2	2	2	2	Zürich	Switzerland	108.0
3	3	3	3	3	4	Auckland	New Zealand	107.4
3	4	4	4	4	7	Munich	Germany	107.0
5	5	5	5	5	4	Vancouver	Canada	107.4
6	6	6	6	6	6	Düsseldorf	Germany	107.2
7	7	7	7	7	7	Frankfurt	Germany	107.0
8	8	8	8	8	3	Geneva	Switzerland	107.9
9	9	9	9	9	11	Copenhagen	Denmark	106.2
10						Basel	Switzerland
10	10	10	10	10	10	Sydney	Australia	106.3
12	11	11	11	12	13	Amsterdam	Netherlands	105.7
13	13	14		16	17	Berlin	Germany	105.0
14	14	13	10	10	9	Bern	Switzerland	106.5
15	12	12	12	13	12	Wellington	New Zealand	105.9
16	15	15	15	15	16	Toronto	Canada	105.3
16	15	16		17	18	Melbourne	Australia	104.8
18	19	19		19	19	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	104.6
19	17	16	14	14	14	Ottawa	Canada	105.5
19	18	16		17	23	Hamburg	Germany	104.1
21	21	22		21	21	Perth	Australia	104.2
21	23	24	23	23	21	Montreal	Canada	104.2
23	19	19		19	20	Stockholm	Sweden	104.5
23	25	25		24	24	Nuremberg	Germany	103.9
25	26	26		25	28	Singapore	Singapore	103.5
25	30	31		32	24	Oslo	Norway	103.9
27	21	22		22	15	Brussels	Belgium	105.4
28	24	21		27	30	Stuttgart	Germany	103.3
29	27	27		29	32	Adelaide	Australia	103.0
30	28	27	27	29	32	San Francisco	United States	103.0
30	28	30		26	26	Canberra	Australia	103.6
32	30	31		32	35	Helsinki	Finland	102.6
33	32	33		32	28	Calgary	Canada	103.5
34	33	34	34	35	26	Dublin	Ireland	103.6
35	34	34		35	37	Boston	United States	102.2
36	35	36		28	31	Honolulu	United States	103.1
37	36	37		37	36	Brisbane	Australia	102.4
38	42	41	43	44	45	Lisbon	Portugal	100.3
39	37	27		29	34	Paris	France	102.9
40	38	39		39	38	Lyon	France	101.9
41	39	40		38	39	London	United Kingdom	101.6
42	41	41		41	41	Milan	Italy	100.8
43	39	38		40	44	Barcelona	Spain	100.6
44	46	44		44	50	Seattle	United States	99.8
45	44	44		44	49	New York City	United States	100.0
46	46					Edinburgh	United Kingdom
47	43	43		42	45	Chicago	United States	100.3
48	51	50		43	45	Washington, D.C.	United States	100.3
49						Madrid	Spain
50	44	44		44	40	Tokyo	Japan	101.4
50	46	47		48	41	Kobe	Japan	100.8
50						Birmingham	United Kingdom
50						Glasgow	United Kingdom
50						Philadelphia	United States

Top cities by region

Europe^[4]

Rank	Overall Ranking 2017	City	2010 Score
1	1	Vienna	108.6
2	2	Zürich	108.0
3	4	Munich	107.0
4	6	Düsseldorf	107.2
5	7	Frankfurt	107.0

Oceania^[4]

Rank	Overall Ranking 2017	City	2010 Score
1	3	Auckland	107.4
2	10	Sydney	106.3
3	15	Wellington	105.9
4	16	Melbourne	104.8
5	21	Perth	104.2

North America^[4]

Rank	Overall Ranking 2017	City	2010 Score
1	5	Vancouver	107.4
2	16	Toronto	105.3
3	18	Ottawa	105.5
4	23	Montreal	104.2
5	29	San Francisco	103.0

Asia^[4]

Rank	Overall Ranking 2017	City	2010 Score
1	25	Singapore	103.5
2	47	Tokyo	101.4
3	50	Kobe	100.8
4	51	Yokohama	100.8
5	60	Osaka	-

South America^[4]

Rank	Overall Ranking 2017	City
1	79	Montevideo
2	93	Buenos Aires
3	95	Santiago
4	109	Brasilia
5	115	Asuncion

Africa^[4]

Rank	Overall Ranking 2017	City
1	84	Port Louis
2	87	Durban
3	94	Cape Town
4	96	Johannesburg
5	114	Tunis

See also

• World's most liveable cities
• Global Liveability Survey
• List of most expensive cities for expatriate employees

References

External links

• Mercer's Quality of Living survey page
• 2011 Quality of Living Worldwide Survey – city rankings (press release ). Mercer.com. Archived from the original on 28.11.2012.
• 2011 Mercer Quality of Living Interactive World Map
• 2012 Quality of Living Worldwide Survey – city rankings (press release)
• Full rankings
• 2018 Mercer Quality of Living City Rankings